Four and a half seconds
by jammyjamfan
Summary: One shot. A dream about a kiss. Inspired by a guests comment to me about the ending of one of my stories - "I'm waiting still for their kiss on the lips". Hope you like it. Mature and Rizzles!


_And their lips met. Just briefly. Just for a few seconds their lips softly touched._

She had dreamed it so many times.

She loved this dream. Not because it replaced familiar nightmares, but because it felt so right...even if it was just a dream.

The first time it happened she woke as if it was a nightmare, bolting upright, wide eyes and feeling unsettled, damp sticking to her face, heart racing. Confused.

The second time it wasn't such a shock, she still woke with her heart beating in her ears and her mouth wide open in surprise, loudly releasing a gasp as if she had been holding it in for hours.

The third time she knew it was coming. The surroundings. The sequence of events. The score, the time on the wall, every response exactly as it had the two times before.  
She felt it coming...saw it coming...  
Waiting for it, wondering if she wanted it, holding her breath in anticipation of it.  
The seconds leading up to it seemed to slow down. It seemed she could think a thousand thoughts in the space of a few seconds.  
She could have stopped it, turned, stood up, pulled away, said something, laughed or even woken herself up. But she wanted to know if she wanted it to happen again, she wanted to know what would come next...and so she had let it happen. She allowed it to happen, this time not unexpectedly, not surprising.

And then she woke up...at the same moment as before.  
At the same point she always woke up, just like that first time, and then every time since then.  
That moment after their lips met.

But she had liked it. She didn't admit it to herself but she couldn't deny it either.

She asked Maura about what dreams about friends kissing meant...but Maura asked for too many details and she had shut down.

And in the space of a week, it went from liking the dream to loving the dream.

Now she always woke with one hand clutching her chest as if it would somehow keep it in check and the other hand near her face, her own fingers gently brushing over her own lips.  
She couldn't get enough of it but she never got tired of it.

Her dream always started on her couch. A half empty bottle of fancy wine on her coffee table with two wine glasses, hers almost empty, the other not as much but adorned with a red lipstick impression. If she cared to think harder she might remember the name of it. Passion something.  
Over the top of the glasses on her muted tv screen was the Red Sox in its final innings, she had only cared about the score the first time around. After so many times she knew the final score but didn't care to even glance at it ever again.  
And next to her sat Maura, in the clothing she would never describe as 'lounging around attire'. The clothing Maura wore did change, it was the only thing that seemed to be different every dream, leaving her to wonder if the underwear underneath changed with it.  
And Maura would always be talking, although she could never quite make out what her friend was saying, even when she tried to hear it.  
In exactly twenty seconds, she knows, like all the other times, Maura will finish her sentence, then look up at Jane with a soft smile, and lean forward until suddenly they are so close their lips will meet softly.

And it is always the shortest kiss because she wakes up in what feels like seconds after.

She had tried to make it last longer, tried to slow it down, go further, do something different, but it always ended at the same moment.

She had even tried aromatherapy, self hypnotherapy, destroying her alarm clock, going to bed earlier, even quitting coffee after lunch.

Just hoping for another few seconds.

It didn't work. Nothing worked.

At 6:10am exactly she wakes up every morning, only seconds after their lips meet for the first time...or the hundredth time.

Only four and a half seconds of complete, heart stopping, brain numbing, lip tingling, bliss.

Four and a half seconds she looks forward to every single night now.

There was only one night she did try to stop it happening, to see if she could. She did stop it, she pulled back at the last second. Maura stopped and looked at her, deflated and afraid. Frozen in horror for those four and a half seconds before she finally woke. Sitting upright like a nightmare, heart pounding. Stopping it was never going to be repeated again.

Every morning after those nights she dreamt her dream, she would look at Maura and wonder if her friend somehow knew about it, sensed it. But not a word was said.

She also wondered what Maura would think about her dream if she knew. What would Maura think of _her_.

On occasions when they sat close together or both looked at each other for a second longer than just a look...she would wonder what it might really be like...be like if it wasn't just a dream.  
A dream that had maybe become a fantasy.

But for now she will have to settle for just a dream...

And here she sits, like always, a wine bottle on the table, the Red Soxs playing silently, ignored in the background. Maura still talking about something Jane doesn't understand but perhaps should be trying to. And she knows that the next twenty seconds will be followed by four and a half seconds of bliss.

She cant help but count it down in her head, licking her lips in preparation for it eagerly.

Maura finishes her sentence and looks up at Jane.

Jane who is already letting her eyelids start to close because bliss has arrived, her heart already starting to speed up with anticipation.

Three...Mississippi...

Two...Mississippi...

One...Mississippi...

And...

Nothing!

Jane almost falls forward as the weight that she expected to meet her never comes.

Her mouth is already dropping open with sheer surprise.

An annoyed yet soft grunt leaves her lips.

She is about to ask 'what happened?' when Maura speaks again, the next sentence coming where it shouldn't.

"And so neither Suzie or myself could understand why the platelets were an abnormal shape..."

Jane can do nothing but swallow as she tries to keep her chemical ridden body from reacting.

_Where the hell was her damn kiss?_

She watches Maura's lips continue to move. Another sentence following the last one. Then another. And another.

Had she miss-timed it? Surely not. Not by this much.

_Didn't she know it far too well?_

It takes all Jane's willpower not to react. To ask. To frown. To growl out the frustration building up inside her.

What had gone wrong, how should she fix it.

"We stayed in the lab all night running tests. Taking new samples to rule out a human error. It was the most frustrating case of my life." Maura sighs almost sadly.

Jane almost replies out loud, 'Tell me about it.'

At least, for the first time, she can finally hear what Maura is talking about. Super smart Maura, always giving every detail on something Jane has zero interest in.

She would rather the kiss.

And as much as she tries to concentrate on what Maura is saying next, she is immediately distracted my the movement of those lips, still wearing that 'passion something' lipstick, changing shapes and looking scrumptious.

Her own lips screaming at her to make something happen.

The room around her turning to a fuzzy blur as all she can see is those soft red kissable lips calling to her own like they had done night after night for months now.

Those gorgeous lips that should be kissing hers right now instead of_ talking_.

Those lips she should be feeling right now.

Tasting right now.

And she can't help herself.

She leans forward exactly the way Maura usually did, and takes those moving lips in hers, enjoying them...because she only has four and a half seconds.

And it feels like it will never end, the lips against hers still at first but then responding, almost like an old friend yet like they never had done before. Her whole body is hotter than it's ever been, she aches softly between her legs. She wants more.

A hand moves to grip her arm and pull her closer, and suddenly she is almost out of breath, pulling back with a soft and almost silent wow.

She has never run out of breath before.

She has never felt so amazing before.

And Maura looks at her and smiles, lipstick smeared and a pinkish face, she has never seen Maura like this before.

Jane takes a deep breath, wondering why the dream hasn't ended yet but afraid to ask in case that alone might wake her from it.

She always wondered what would happen if the dream continued, if the kiss lasted longer...and now she knows.

She feels so grateful for the extra time and the warmth that stays instead of dissipating to the reality of waking in her bed alone.

She leans forward again, this time her eyes open, and she watches as Maura mimics her and leans in as well. Their lips gently meet again, moving softly again, slowly becoming deeper.

She hopes she never wakes up.

Maybe she is dead.

_Who cares._

She wraps an arm around Maura tightly to bring her even closer.

And she feels hands grip her shoulders and nails start to slide down her back to her hips.

As the kiss increases in passion, so does Maura's grip, until Jane pulls away and squeals in pain and then giggles.

"Sorry" Maura whispers looking only barely guilty.

And Jane pauses a moment. The next thought, being to call Maura a naughty girl and begin to tear the expensive garments off of her, suddenly stalled by the actual pain she felt.

Maura pinched her.

And she felt it.

_She felt pain._

Is it true if someone pinches you and you feel it, that that's how you know you're not dreaming?

_Is she awake?_

_Nuh..._

"What's wrong Jane?" Maura asks noticing the shock or perhaps fear coming across the couch at her.

Jane fumbles for a moment before opening her mouth a few times as if she wants to answer but can't.

"Jane?" Maura asks tilting her head to the side questioning everything.

"It can't be real." Jane finally replies. Because there is no way she just really kissed her female friend and her female friend is fine with it.

Maura smiles to herself proudly, she very rarely can get Jane to not make sense.

Jane reaches her right hand to her left arm and punches herself, hard.

"Ouch."

Maura raises her eyebrows by way of a question.

Jane responds with her mouth opening wider than it ever has ever been, right before she covers it with her hand.

Maura watches silently as several reactions cross her friends face, one after the other, none quite settling until only shock is left.

"Oh...god..." Jane finally says, "I'm sorry."

Maura smiles coyly, "I'm not."

"But I...I kissed you..."

"I wish you would continue Jane." Maura says as she leans forward, hoping Jane will continue.

"But...I thought...I was...it was...but it's not...not a dream...I am...I...am I still dreaming?"

Maura shakes her head slowly. eyes never leaving hers, "No. at least I hope you aren't."

"I don't get it."

Jane looks around the room, for a sign, something to make it make sense. That's when she notices the red soxs score is wrong, the time on the clock on the wall is wrong as well. Maybe she drank too much, maybe it's still a dream somehow...just different.

"You didn't stop me, Maur."

"No." Maura replies.

"You're into guys tho."

"Sometimes."

Jane shakes her head as she replays it over and over.

And then she notices Maura watching her intently so she stops and just looks at Maura, wondering, questioning. What would Maura think...what does Maura think of her, and the response is definately not negative. Far from it. Just a gentle almost understanding smile and sparkling eyes.

"I thought it was a dream."

"Is it something you dreamed before?"

Jane looks down at the ground, "Yeah."

She blushes, she can feel the warmth running up her neck.

"Did you want it to be more than a dream?"

Jane looks up quickly, "I...I was happy with the dream. I...um..."

Maura doesn't seem offended at all.

"I was_ so_ sure..." Jane adds mostly to herself. She was convinced it was a dream at the time. It had been the same...mostly.

"What if _'you'_ keep pretending it's a dream and we carry on kissing?"

"What if...?" Jane questions the unusual start of Maura's sentence.

Maura laughs sweetly as she leans forward and puts her hand on Jane's knee before moving her fingers up very slowly toward Jane's thigh, "What happens next in your dream Jane?"

Jane swallows heavily and watches the hand transfixed, "Uh...it never got this far...I always woke up."

"Too bad." Maura says with a pout, her fingers moving at a snails pace towards Jane's inner thigh.

Jane holds her breath.

"What would you like to have happened next, Jane?"

Jane closes her eyes and swallows again, lip quivering slightly in response to the touch, "I only ever had those few seconds of a kiss...it never went further."

Maura pauses her movement completely, "You didn't want to think about what would never actually happen because then you would be disappointed it didn't?"

Jane nods her eyes still closed.

Maura starts moving her hand again and Jane opens her eyes to look at Maura in the eye.

"Whatever you want." Maura offers looking back at Jane almost mesmerised by the sincerity from her.

Jane's eyes flicker over her friends face, a hint of desire and curiosity in the smile.

"I want more _time_."

Maura smiles, "Is until I have to leave for work in the morning enough for you?"

"Mmmhmmm." Jane smiles back.

Maura leans in to kiss Jane, "And I'll have every night from now free for you."

Their lips meet again, softly at first.

Jane moans into the kiss as Maura's fingers also reach their mark.

Jane is in a new kind of bliss. One that will last much longer that four and a half seconds.

Maura pulls back for a second to give one final thought, "Just remind me to set my alarm for 6:10am."


End file.
